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The Astell&Kern AK100 Mark-II is the ultimate portable high-fidelity audio system capable of studio Mastering Quality Sound (MQS) support and playback.

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The Astell&Kern is the ultimate portable Hi-Fi audio system

The Astell&Kern is the ultimate portable high-fidelity audio system capable of playing Mastering Quality Sound (MQS) from music mastering studios. MQS refers to all of the high resolution digital music recording studio formats up to 24-bit/ 44 - 192kHz. MQS delivers vast amounts of better music experience because MQS delivers 6.5 times of the detailed information in the same track.

What is the Portable MQS System?

Astell&Kern is the ultimate portable high-fidelity audio system capable of studio Mastering Quality Sound (MQS) Mastering Quality Sound (MQS) is an acronym of collective lossless & high-resolution audio source formats, typically in 24-bit/44 to 192kHz of bit/sampling rates. Because MQS delivers about 6.5 times more detail than a conventional CD format (16bit/44.1kHz), listeners can enjoy a better and a more realistic sound quality.

24-bit/44 to 192kHz is the music industry norm used in the mastering process during sound production. However, the result of high resolution music files has to be compressed down to 16bit/44.1kHz so it can be stored into a single CD due to the memory storage shortcomings (-700MB). To produce the MP3 format, the high-resolution audio is compressed even further to 128 to 320kbps for the convenience of file size. These compressions remove the enormous amount of the details of the original recording because of memory storage limitations and listeners will never be able to hear the details.

Source frequency analysis comparison

When comparing the frequency of each digital audio format, data loss is even more visible. MP3 formats can only reproduce frequencies up to 16kHz. However, WAV formats sampled in 48kHz can be reproduced up to 22kHz and higher. Frequency rates of MQS files sampled in 44 to 192kHz can be reproduced even further than the WAV format.

Features:

AK100 MK II is the lower output impedance version of the AK100 with 3 ohm

Equipped with the same high-performance Wolfson WM8740 24bit/192kHz DAC found in the AK100

Playback single-layer DSD formats with the version 2.30 system software

Use the AK100 MK II with or as a S-SPIF or USB DAC

2 Micro SD card slots with 32GB of internal flash memory - Total of 96GB of music storage space